2009/01/28

And let's share the brilliance (and yes, that line you're going WTF is true):

Hi (contact),

At your request, I am writing you regarding final invoices for our old rental property located at (address), Ottawa, On. There are four charges total to us, but we believe that we should only be paying for two of them.

As per our signed contract, we agreed to have the carpets steam cleaned upon vacating the premises due to the fact we had pets. As well, we caused minor drywall damage as we were moving out, so it is fair to pay the repair cost to the entrance. However, we do not agree with the charges for (company) junk removal and (company) Housekeeping.

When we first took over the property on Nov 1st, 2007 we arrived to find the home in a very poor state of cleanliness. The agent we were dealing with at the time actually informed us that they had not had a chance to check the house and no one had been in to clean. We were forced to delay our move by two days so we could properly clean the house, as it had seemed it had not been cleaned the entire time the previous tenants had been living there. I spent a complete day trying to clean the upstairs bathroom trying to remove a year's worth of soap scum in the shower and tub which had almost turned to tar. We also spent a complete day cleaning the kitchen as it had not been touched in quite some time. The fridge had old spilled juice inside, the counters were coated in dirt and the pantry was full of soil. The stove top and oven were also in rough shape. As an added bonus, a box of used vaginal suppositories was left in the fridge as a gift from the previous tenants. In total, we spent roughly 12 hours each cleaning the house prior to our arrival. I also saw no indication steam cleaning had taken place prior to our arrival, despite the previous tenants owning a dog. Before our departure, we spent three nights of five hours each cleaning and preparing the home for the new tenants. Our only concern was the bile in the carpets (not feces as the note states) from a cat having vomited. We knew however the steam cleaning would remove this, which we had previously agreed to. It is not fair to us that we should be charged for house cleaning when we left this house 100 times cleaner then the way we received it.

As for the junk that was left in the house. Everything that was left in the house when we left was there when we arrived with the exception of the garbage in the garage that was slated to go out on Friday for pick up. The previous tenants told us that the owned had left behind some stuff for the tenants to use such as the giant TV, a broken lawnmower, a broken BBQ, an air conditioning unit and a garage full of lawn tools and various other things. The storage room in the basement also contained quite of bit of junk such as paint, wood and old fixturing. Since we were not shown the house by an agent and rather by the tenants themselves, we had no choice but to believe the tenants about the contents of the house. Everything we left behind was there when we arrived.

However, since there was no clean up crew prior to our arrival, no one noticed how much of a mess the house was or how much junk was left behind. We were left to deal with the problems ourselves. It is not good business to let one client go and not check up on them and charge the other one. I would gladly make up an invoice for the time invested with our cleaning services prior to our arriving for 12 hours at 70$ an hour and we could deduct it off our current bill if it will help ease matters. We are not trying to stiff anyone, we just want to be treated fairly.